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24 Aug 2009, 07:45
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Hi Paul,
I would appreciate if you could help me with where I stand in terms of my profile and the schools I want to go.
Short term goal: Emerging market private equity/venture capital
Long term goal: Play a significant role in shaping the investment community in Central Asia (via raising my own fund, educating investors on the benefits of PE/VC, etc).
I am confident I can reach my goals whether I will do an MBA or not. I feel an MBA would equip me better for what I intent to do. Also, I want to use the MBA as an opportunity window to consolidate my knowledge and experience I gained so far. I won't have this luxury afterwards.
Target Schools: Wharton, LBS, and Insead. I want to apply for Insead for practical reasons (1yr, etc), but my focus is on the first two. I do not want to apply to other schools as I feel I would not attend them anyway.
Nationality: Uzbekistan
Age: 28 by Matriculation (Fall 2010)
GMAT: 740 - Q50, V40; AWA 5.0 (retake)
Undergrad: Top local Economics University. GPA (converted): 87%. 2nd place (after host university!) in National Olympiad in International Finance.
Plenty of extra curricular activities; comedy club member, member of entrepreneurship club (good learning point: one of the businesses I found went bust because we didn't research the market well).
Also, I helped our small family business (flower plantation). I was responsible for a key part of the value chain (supply). As a result of my contribution, the business became #1 in the city.
Master degree in Financial Markets & Derivatives: Studied on a full tuition fee scholarship at a pretty average University in London (as you can see, I am sensitive to it). Got Merit (69%) - approx. top 5 % get such result or better. Outside studies, I had to work part time to cover my living expenses. At Uni, I was class representative ( for 80 students). I also held informal tutorials for students (about 10) who were struggling with certain subjects.
Work Experience
- 1 year at a top tier investment bank doing Emerging Markets Structured Rates Trading (London)
- 3 years (2006-now) as an Analyst at a European bank doing European Leveraged Finance (London). I am an integral part of the team that grew from almost zero to one of the top mid-market LevFin teams in Europe (in 2008, ranked in top5 in EMEA). Hence, I have an extensive deal exposure. BUT, although in March 09 I was due to be promoted to an Associate a year earlier, due to the crisis, hiring, promotion, and pay were freezed (needless to say, no bonus!). Still, in the past 1.5 years I am consistently staffed on the deals as an Associate. So, on any deal I usually have a junior Analyst working for me.
Other experiences:
- Advise the Board of a small brokerage in my country. In the last two years, I helped the firm to shape its growth strategy significantly. Recently, I helped the firm to raise a small VC money to develop pan-Central Asian financial information platform.
- Run an informal career club for students from my country. Many club members got top jobs in Big4, i-banks, hedge fund, industry, etc - often with quite difficult backgrounds and not much more to offer other than real hunger to do the job.
- I have a personal property investment portfolio in my country. My initial investment of $75k in 2005 and 2006 is now worth approx. $300k - this is after all this crisis!
References:
- From my 1st job, I can get from either my ex-boss or the Director, a CBS alum.
- From my current job, I intend to get a RL from a VP, who is also a staffer.
I expect both referees to make a decent effort to write the letter.
Interests & hobbies: love finance, entrepreneurship, widely recognised cook of local cuisine(!), die-hard Arsenal fan.
That is mainly it. Thank you for your patience reading my profile info
I would appreciate if you could help me with where I stand in terms of my profile and the schools I want to go.
Short term goal: Emerging market private equity/venture capital
Long term goal: Play a significant role in shaping the investment community in Central Asia (via raising my own fund, educating investors on the benefits of PE/VC, etc).
I am confident I can reach my goals whether I will do an MBA or not. I feel an MBA would equip me better for what I intent to do. Also, I want to use the MBA as an opportunity window to consolidate my knowledge and experience I gained so far. I won't have this luxury afterwards.
Target Schools: Wharton, LBS, and Insead. I want to apply for Insead for practical reasons (1yr, etc), but my focus is on the first two. I do not want to apply to other schools as I feel I would not attend them anyway.
Nationality: Uzbekistan
Age: 28 by Matriculation (Fall 2010)
GMAT: 740 - Q50, V40; AWA 5.0 (retake)
Undergrad: Top local Economics University. GPA (converted): 87%. 2nd place (after host university!) in National Olympiad in International Finance.
Plenty of extra curricular activities; comedy club member, member of entrepreneurship club (good learning point: one of the businesses I found went bust because we didn't research the market well).
Also, I helped our small family business (flower plantation). I was responsible for a key part of the value chain (supply). As a result of my contribution, the business became #1 in the city.
Master degree in Financial Markets & Derivatives: Studied on a full tuition fee scholarship at a pretty average University in London (as you can see, I am sensitive to it). Got Merit (69%) - approx. top 5 % get such result or better. Outside studies, I had to work part time to cover my living expenses. At Uni, I was class representative ( for 80 students). I also held informal tutorials for students (about 10) who were struggling with certain subjects.
Work Experience
- 1 year at a top tier investment bank doing Emerging Markets Structured Rates Trading (London)
- 3 years (2006-now) as an Analyst at a European bank doing European Leveraged Finance (London). I am an integral part of the team that grew from almost zero to one of the top mid-market LevFin teams in Europe (in 2008, ranked in top5 in EMEA). Hence, I have an extensive deal exposure. BUT, although in March 09 I was due to be promoted to an Associate a year earlier, due to the crisis, hiring, promotion, and pay were freezed (needless to say, no bonus!). Still, in the past 1.5 years I am consistently staffed on the deals as an Associate. So, on any deal I usually have a junior Analyst working for me.
Other experiences:
- Advise the Board of a small brokerage in my country. In the last two years, I helped the firm to shape its growth strategy significantly. Recently, I helped the firm to raise a small VC money to develop pan-Central Asian financial information platform.
- Run an informal career club for students from my country. Many club members got top jobs in Big4, i-banks, hedge fund, industry, etc - often with quite difficult backgrounds and not much more to offer other than real hunger to do the job.
- I have a personal property investment portfolio in my country. My initial investment of $75k in 2005 and 2006 is now worth approx. $300k - this is after all this crisis!
References:
- From my 1st job, I can get from either my ex-boss or the Director, a CBS alum.
- From my current job, I intend to get a RL from a VP, who is also a staffer.
I expect both referees to make a decent effort to write the letter.
Interests & hobbies: love finance, entrepreneurship, widely recognised cook of local cuisine(!), die-hard Arsenal fan.
That is mainly it. Thank you for your patience reading my profile info
30 Aug 2009, 20:22
Kudos
Bookmarks
seofah,
You have a strong profile and should be competitive at LBS, Wharton, and INSEAD. I think your odds are better at the European schools because they look more favorably on older candidates at age 28 you are *slightly* older than the typical U.S. B-school applicant (not a big deal, however). More importantly, your extracurricular leadership is (a) primarily "non-social impact oriented" and (b) is not especially strong (it's solid but not great), and European schools are less preoccupied with extracurricular impact than are U.S. schools. But you should certainly apply to Wharton. I recommend that you emphasize your Uzbekistan background -- it's a major "diversity" asset for you.
Good luck to you,
You have a strong profile and should be competitive at LBS, Wharton, and INSEAD. I think your odds are better at the European schools because they look more favorably on older candidates at age 28 you are *slightly* older than the typical U.S. B-school applicant (not a big deal, however). More importantly, your extracurricular leadership is (a) primarily "non-social impact oriented" and (b) is not especially strong (it's solid but not great), and European schools are less preoccupied with extracurricular impact than are U.S. schools. But you should certainly apply to Wharton. I recommend that you emphasize your Uzbekistan background -- it's a major "diversity" asset for you.
Good luck to you,
